Phone or browser AI interviews: which should you use?
Both routes are booked in advance; the real choice is whether Ryan calls the candidate or the candidate joins through their browser.
Adan Vielma · · 9 min read
Should you use phone or browser AI interviews for your candidates? With Screened, both formats are normally booked in advance. The difference is how the interview happens at the scheduled time.
For a phone interview, Ryan calls the number the candidate provided. For a browser interview, the candidate opens the link in the calendar invite, allows microphone access and starts the conversation in their browser.
Compare the joining route, device requirements, recovery steps and candidate support. The easier format for your recruiting team is not necessarily the easiest for applicants.
What is the difference between phone and browser AI interviews?
Both are spoken conversations with Ryan, Screened's AI interviewer:
Phone: The candidate books a time, and Ryan calls the phone number they provide.
Browser: The candidate books a time, then opens the link in the calendar invite at that time and speaks through their browser.
Both invitations arrive by email. The browser option is a voice interview, not a video recording or written assessment. Our interview guide explains how each works.
Find the point where candidates get stuck before changing the format. Check delivery, booking and the conversation itself separately. A candidate who never received the invitation has a different problem from one whose microphone stopped working.
Which format suits your candidates?
Both options involve speaking. They can help you understand an applicant's experience, but neither shows how they write a customer email. Start by checking whether a voice interview is the right task for this stage.
Then identify the practical obstacle:
| What is getting in the way? | What to consider | What the change does not solve |
|---|---|---|
| A candidate prefers not to receive an ordinary phone call and has a reliable browser and microphone. | A booked browser interview joined from the calendar invite. | They still need a suitable place, internet connection and scheduled time to speak. |
| A candidate prefers a normal phone call or cannot rely on browser microphone access. | A booked phone interview with clear date and time-zone confirmation. | The available appointment slots still need to fit the candidate’s schedule. |
| The browser cannot access the microphone. | Technical help or another supported joining route. | A different link alone may not resolve the device problem. |
| The person needs a non-spoken assessment. | An appropriate alternative arranged by the hiring team. | Switching between two voice formats does not remove the barrier. |
Ask rather than infer a preference from the candidate's device or working pattern. An unpredictable schedule may make a reserved appointment more useful, not less.
Also check whether the obstacle is the interview at all. Someone waiting for the salary or working arrangement needs that information before another assessment link.
What should an AI interview invitation say?
Introduce the AI interviewer, explain how to join and name who reviews the answers. Include a contact who can help. These templates assume your recruiting team will review answers and handle replies; confirm both responsibilities before sending.
Browser invitation
**Subject: Book your browser interview for the implementation role at [Employer]**
We'd like to hear more about your experience in a voice interview with Ryan, Screened's AI interviewer. The interview is audio-only and takes place in your browser.
**Booking link:** [Link]
**Book by:** [Date, time and time zone]
**Time to allow:** [Expected duration]
Choose an appointment and check the time zone before confirming. At the booked time, open the interview link in your calendar invite, allow microphone access and select Start interview. Our recruiting team will review your answers before deciding on the next stage.
Please reply if you have questions, cannot find a suitable appointment or need another interview format. You can read how your interview information is handled here: [Candidate privacy notice].
Scheduled phone invitation
**Subject: Book your interview for the implementation role at [Employer]**
We'd like to hear more about your experience in a phone interview with Ryan, Screened's AI interviewer.
**Booking link:** [Link]
**Book by:** [Date, time and time zone]
**Complete the call by:** [Date, time and time zone]
**Time to allow:** [Expected duration]
Choose an appointment and check the time zone before confirming. Ryan will call you at that time. Our recruiting team will review your answers before deciding on the next stage.
Please reply if you have questions, cannot find a suitable appointment or need another interview format. You can read how your interview information is handled here: [Candidate privacy notice].
Replace the employer name, links, deadlines and duration before sending. Use the duration tested for your questions and add any preparation the candidate needs. The privacy notice should cover the interview information actually collected, including transcripts and saved audio where applicable.
For either format, include a separate booking deadline only when your process has one. Check that the calendar offers suitable appointments before any completion deadline. A candidate cannot meet that deadline when every available slot is later.
Have a colleague follow the email, booking flow and joining instructions without coaching. They should know how to book, how to join at the scheduled time, how much time to set aside and how to get help. Confirm that replies reach someone who can act on them.
How do you compare AI interview completion rates?
Start with every application you tried to invite, including failed deliveries. Count each once. Report completed interviews, pending appointments and unresolved problems separately so an impressive rate among starters does not hide people who never got that far.
Invitation-to-completion rate = applications with a completed interview ÷ applications you tried to invite × 100. This definition includes failed deliveries in the starting group. Use the same follow-up period for both formats and show pending interviews separately.
For this example, each group contains 20 applicants to the same vacancy, each with one application. Nobody switches format. Compare the whole invited groups before looking only at people who booked.
| Measure | Invited to book a phone interview | Invited to book a browser interview |
|---|---|---|
| People you tried to invite, including failed deliveries | 20 | 20 |
| People who completed an interview | 10 | 12 |
| Share of invited people who completed | 10 out of 20: 50% | 12 out of 20: 60% |
The browser-invited group has two more completions: 60% versus 50%, a difference of 10 percentage points. One completion changes either group's rate by five percentage points because each group has only 20 invitations.
Check future appointments, requests for help and delivery failures before deciding to switch. These figures describe what happened in the example; they do not establish why.
Why counting only bookings can mislead
Suppose 12 of the phone-invited group booked, and 15 of the browser-invited group booked. Dividing the completed interviews by those smaller groups gives about 83% and 80% respectively, making phone appear ahead.
But those calculations leave out people who never booked. Use the booking rate to locate a problem in the journey, not to declare one interview format better. Where someone switched formats, record that separately too.
Keep the core questions and invitation details comparable, and allow both groups the same completion period. An appointment booked for the following Tuesday remains pending in Friday's report. It is not a no-show.
Note whether candidates chose their format. Someone choosing a browser interview may have different scheduling needs from someone choosing a call. Those differences can affect completion as well as the choice itself.
Real candidates may switch formats. For the invitation-to-completion measure, keep them in the original invitation group and count each application once. Separately record the format they actually completed and any support needed.
This lets you distinguish the invitation route from the format that ultimately worked. A phone-invited candidate who completes in the browser counts as a completed application journey, not a completed phone interview.
Follow the answers into recruiter review too. An interview completed tonight can still sit unread for three days. Ask about candidate experience separately, and report who responded.
What should you do when an AI interview is interrupted?
Check which answers were saved before asking the candidate to start again. Explain what they should do while you investigate, and prevent reminders from contradicting that instruction. Your reply could say:
Thanks for letting me know the interview stopped. I'll check which answers were saved and update you by [date], even if we're still investigating.
You don't need to restart it while I check. Please reply here if you'd like to discuss another interview format.
Choose an update date the team can meet. Before telling the candidate to wait, check deadlines and reminders so they will not receive an overdue warning for following your instructions.
Keep a recruiter responsible for the promised update while support investigates. They can explain a delay without claiming the problem is fixed. Sending the fault to the supplier does not transfer the commitment you made to the candidate.
Mark questions never reached as not assessed in your own review notes. Keep that separate from an answer the candidate gave but could not clarify. Neither should inherit an unexplained negative judgement merely because the session ended early.
Reuse saved answers that remain suitable. A format that prevented the person demonstrating a skill may require a fresh opportunity instead. Agree what the alternative will cover, and make clear which earlier findings should no longer guide the decision.
Confirm how the product supports restarting or finishing an interview before promising that it will resume at the same point.
Agree the recovery through the appropriate support or adjustment process. Switching voice formats may help a device problem, but it does not provide a non-spoken assessment. Keep sensitive adjustment details separate from the interview rating.
When a candidate switches routes, send one clear instruction identifying the invitation to use and what happens to the earlier attempt. Follow the supported process rather than promise automatic continuation. The candidate should know what to do, not have to decide which of two active invitations to ignore.
When someone doesn't reply, follow the reminder and closing process you communicated. Don't invent a reason for the silence.
Does the completed interview give the hiring manager useful answers?
Ask the next interviewer to use a few results, including an interrupted conversation with saved answers. Can they identify the applicant's contribution and prepare a relevant follow-up?
Check what the conversation established, not just whether it finished. A complete interview may leave responsibilities unclear, while an interrupted one may contain useful answers. Apply the same job requirements to both.
For an HR coordinator, the first interview might cover arranging induction. The manager can ask whether anything was not ready for a new starter and explore the example the applicant gives. They should not assume there was a missing laptop or another problem the earlier answer never mentioned.
Ask why the manager repeats a question. They may need to clarify the answer, or they may never have seen it because the brief or link failed. Fix that cause before changing the interview format.
Make the recommendation from completion, staff effort and usable answers. Include support and remaining calls, not just time removed from the calendar. A route that costs slightly more staff time may still be worthwhile when it lets suitable applicants participate or gives the manager better information.
Change the cause you found: booking, access, unclear questions or the handover. Keep the role requirements stable while improving how candidates can demonstrate them.
